Leader of the Opposition

MEDIA STATEMENT

29 March 2016

Government’s record on fresh water appalling

The appalling state of New Zealand’s once pristine fresh waterways is the result of a Government happy to have “wadeable” as a bottom line for quality and which doesn’t care that we don’t live up to our 100% pure branding, Leader of the Opposition Andrew Little says.

“By the Government’s own reckoning, 61% of our monitored waterways are of ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ quality which means they are unsafe for swimming and should be avoided.

“This acceptance of dirty water quality is the reason New Zealand’s young people have taken it upon themselves to lobby the Government for higher standards and action.

“Today’s petition by the Choose Clean Water campaigners is an indictment on an Environment Minister who seems not to care that his proposed legislation will entrench dirty rivers and streams putting public health at risk.

“Nick Smith today admitted our 100% pure image is nothing more than a slogan, a damning admission of defeat by this Government. Five years ago John Key was rigorously defending the 100% pure claim to international media. It’s shameful but inevitable that they could no longer continue that pretence.

“A Labour Government will set minimum standards for swimmable lakes and rivers. Clean rivers will not be allowed to get dirty and dirty waterways will be cleaned up over a generation.

“That starts with real bottom lines that will make a difference, not weak standards that encourage ongoing pollution and no plan to clean up what was once our greatest asset,” Andrew Little says.

ends

© Scoop Media